Festive Irish-Cuisine (Colcannon) Inspired Pie

This hearty vegetarian pie is inspired by the classic Irish dish, colcannon (from Irish cál ceannann), which is traditionally a combination of cabbage and potatoes that can include onions and scallions as well. Reimagine colcannon as a festive pie for a fun St. Patrick's Day dinner dish!

Ingredients:

• pie crust (homemade or from store -- "Easy Pie Crust" from marthastewart.com is a recommended recipe for homemade pie crust)
• 4 potatoes
• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 1 onion
• 1 c. milk
• 1 tsp. salt

Optional:

• shamrock-shaped cookie cutter
• 2 scallions

While colcannon recipes usually include a significant amount of butter, this step omits the butter, as pie crust itself already contains a lot.

Peel and cut the potatoes, and bring them to a boil in a large pot.

While the potatoes are boiling, chop the half head of cabbage into thin strips and chop the onion as well. It is recommended to sauté the onion until it is translucent, but this step is optional. You can put raw onion into the mix, and the onion in the resulting pie will be a bit crunchier, like it is on some pizzas.

When the potatoes are finished cooking, drain them, and mix in the onion, cabbage, salt, and 1/2 cup of milk.

Roll out the pie dough and place it in your pie pan, rolling it out thin enough so that you have a bit of extra dough left over for decorations. Trim the excess dough off the edges of the pie pan.

Put the colcannon in the pie and create decorations for the top. Cutting a shamrock with a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter and placing it in the center of the pie adds a nice touch. Braided dough is also a good decoration for this pie.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. If you're using scallions, chop them up and scatter them over the top of the pie.

Enjoy the colcannon pie!